


The Other Legendary Edge

by PenguinZero



Category: Beanworld (Comics)
Genre: Adventure, Exploration, Gen, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenguinZero/pseuds/PenguinZero
Summary: Beanish is in a bit of a funk about his latest Look•See Show.  But Professor Garbanzo has a story for him -- a story of the time she and Mr. Spook set out beyond the borders of the Beanworld, and found something they were never expecting!
Comments: 9
Kudos: 5
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	The Other Legendary Edge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheBigCat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBigCat/gifts).



It had been a long but productive Goof-Off Day for Beanish.A morning of charging chipskates and helping Proffy carry some of the materials for her latest experiment around, a noontime visit to Dreamishness, where he'd gotten farther down the Secret Path of Something More than he ever had before, and then the presentation of the Look•See Show.Which hadn't gone quite as he expected.

The latest Look•See Show had been constructed over a string of quite a few sprout-butt days in a row, and showed the Cuties recharging their chipskates.Beanish was really quite proud of it, especially the way he'd twiddled together pieces of hoops and slats and chips to approximate the various shapes of the Zip'A'Zap, even if they didn't quite look the same as the real thing.It was probably the largest Look•See Show he'd ever done, with over a dozen little bits 'floating' in the air, supported by long, thin, slats or dangling from strings, himself and a Boom'r dancing on either side, and the Cuties on chipskates above them all.

And it wasn't like the others had disliked it, either.The Chow Sol'jers had oohed and aahed appropriately as they saw the scale of it, and the Cuties had flown around it making enthusiastic comments, especially about the imitation Cuties.

And then they'd all left.

Beanish measured the success of his Look•See Shows by how long the others stayed around to look at them and see them.And by those standards, while this wasn't his least successful show by far, it was still well below average.

He tried not to take poor showings too hard.He never knew just how his creations would affect the others. But still, he'd put so much time and effort into this one, and he'd sort of thought the others would appreciate it more.Why, he'd gotten a better response to his depiction of a wobbly Cutie Longlegs, and he'd thrown that together in half a morning!

Sometimes, like this, he missed Dreamishness.He'd see her again tomorrow, but tomorrow wasn't soon enough. 

They'd talked today, as usual, as Beanish was practicing his leaps across the Secret Path of Something More.None of it had been particularly consequential, with no great revelations, but that didn't matter.What mattered was how it felt to be together, in her warmth, in the eternal moment of NOW! that he'd learned to maintain.

Still, he was getting better at his leaps.The clouds had been farther apart than ever before, and he'd effortlessly hopped between them, keeping a steady pace and even keeping up conversation with Dreamishness the whole time, until his focus had finally wavered and he'd dropped back down onto solid ground.

"I wonder where it goes."The Secret Path of Something More was long, so long he'd never seen anything at the far end.He always dropped back down onto a peak just like where he started the moment he lost concentration or missed a jump, but was it really the same place?Was there something in the distance Dreamishness thought it was important for him to get to?Or was it more that something was going to happen to him on the way?Maybe it was even that it was just important for him to develop the skills needed to…

"Where what goes, Beanish?"

Beanish nearly jumped off the Legendary Edge in shock, startled by the voice behind him."Mr. Spook!I, uh…"

"Careful, Beanish!" Professor Garbanzo said, reaching out a hand to steady him."Honestly, Mr. Spook, be a little more careful when you're walking up behind someone!Especially at a place like this."

"Yeah, yer right.Sorry, Beanish," Mr. Spook said, taking a seat on the Legendary Edge next to Beanish."What were you thinkin' about, though?"

"Uh…"Beanish always got nervous when the conversation drifted too close to his secrets.He knew he couldn't tell anyone about Dreamishness.He'd stop being able to go see her if he so much as said a word about her, even if he wasn't sure why it had to be that way.He could accept that, and maybe hope that his time with Dreamishness would eventually help him understand — but it made things awfully awkward when he had to lie to his friends.

He cast his eyes around, trying to figure out what else he could have reasonably been talking about.There wasn't much.Behind him, his sketches and the Look•See Show, and behind them, Gran'Ma'Pa towering over the Beanworld.Ahead of him, over the Legendary Edge, there was Mr. Spook's Mistake, floating and shimmering in the evening light, and then nothing but the Thin Lake stretching out beneath them, far off into the distance, where the sun was gradually starting to set…

"The sun!Yes, I was… I was wondering where the sun goes after it sets!"

It wasn't the truth, but it was a lot closer to the truth than he'd expected.He'd often thought there was something about Dreamishness that was very like the sun, even back on the first day when he wasn't even sure she was real.Her warm radiance, the way she moved ever onward in one direction…Did Dreamishness go to wherever the sun went?Did the Secret Path of Something More lead there?

"Oho!" Proffy sounded thrilled by Beanish's replly."Now you're thinking about the Big•Big Questions, Beanish!"She sat down on the Legendary Edge as well, dangling her feet in the air."After I'd sorted out the matter of the Four Realities and gotten a handle on the everyday jobs of making our tools, I started thinking about the world around us and our place in it, and that was one of the first things that got me wondering!"She waved off at the sunset."Every night, it goes down that way, off the Legendary Edge.Every morning it comes up off the Proverbial Sandy Beach — the exact opposite direction!And that just raises so many questions!Is it going underneath us at night?Or around to one side?Is it even the same sun every time, or is there a new one created every morning and vanishing every night?Why does it always follow the same path?How far away is it, really?It could be pretty big and very close, or very very far away and enormous!"

"Wow.So what's the answers to all that?"

"I don't know!"Professor Garbanzo managed to make an admission of ignorance sound like a dance of joy."Oh, I tried to find out, of course, and Mr. Spook came with me, but… you know, I don't think I've ever told you this story before."

"I don't think you have," Beanish said."I don't remember it, that's for sure."

"Well, then, let me tell you!" Professor Garbanzo said, eagerly gesturing towards the sunset."Let me tell you all about a time where I quested out beyond the boundaries of the Beanworld to get a taste of the unknown!Where I found there were so many things that I'd never even imagined!The time that Mr. Spook and I discovered…

#  **THE OTHER LEGENDARY EDGE!**

Now, this was a long while ago (Proffy said).It was after Mr. Spook got his name, after I'd discovered the Four Realities for the second time, after we'd learned how to chowraid and feed ourselves, but before Mr. Spook met the Big Fish and got his trusty fork.Long before you broke out, Beanish!

It was a happy time, even if eating was a chore.We knew Gran'Ma'Pa was there to give us everything we needed, and the dangers of chowraids aside, we had lots of time to relax and play games.I needed to repair our spears and pluck'n wands, of course, but that still left me a lot of time to think.

And one of the things I was thinking about was exploring more.Going down had found us the Four Realities and the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herds, both of which proved vital for improving our lives.So what could possibly lie elsewhere?

We couldn't go up — we hadn't discovered the Float Factor yet.We'd gone down as far as we could go — Mr. Spook had made it all the way to the bottom of the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herds, where there was just hard ground with no way around or through.But that still left one way to go…

"No way, Proffy.Nothin' doing."Mr. Spook wasn't too happy with my suggestion."I've scouted around a little with the Chow Sol'jers.It's been the same as far as we could go.Why take risks just to see all the same stuff?"

"It's important, Mr. Spook!We don't know that it's all the same stuff.What if there's an end to it all, and we'll run out of slats and chips for our spears someday?Or what if there's something new that I could use to make an even better tool?What if there's a danger out there we don't even know about?Knowing more about the things around us can only be good for us!"

"Yeah, maybe so, but we gotta think about keeping the stuff we already got safe.The Chow Sol'jers and I have already gone nearly as far as we can go and still get back by sundown.We go much farther than that, and we'll be gone all night — and what happens if a sprout-butt drops the next morning, huh?We've got jobs to do, and we can't just leave 'em behind!"

"That's just it!I've been watching Gran'Ma'Pa every day, trying to see if there's a pattern to when a sprout-butt drops, and I think I've cracked it!For the last ten days, every day has been just as I predicted.And if that's so, then tomorrow and the next day will both be goof-off days, before a sprout-butt drops the day after.So we'll be perfectly safe leaving the Beanworld for a day or even a little longer!"

"Whoa!You really sure of that?"

"I am totally confident in my deductions!" I said with unearned certainty.

"Well… If ya really think it'll help us out to know all this stuff…"

And that was that.The Chow Sol'jers took it rather well when we told them we were going to be gone all night — honestly, I think they were more interested in me promising them it would be a goof-off day tomorrow than anything else.And then Mr. Spook and I took our leap off the Legendary Edge, set our sights in the direction the sun was starting to move as the afternoon began, and started swimming.

For a long while, it was going well.We dove down every so often to see if things had changed — and they never had.Beneath the Thin Lake, the Four Realities, and beneath the Four Realities, the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd.Some of them formed rings the moment they saw Mr. Spook, but the farther out we went, the less often that happened.

"Maybe they just haven't heard about you yet from the other Hoi-Polloi," I theorized as we surfaced after one of those dives.

"Could be," Mr. Spook said."We ain't never done a chowraid out this far yet.Dunno how much they talk to each other about stuff like that."He looked up at the sky."Looks like the sun's getting kinda close to setting.Maybe we oughta think about what we're gonna do about sleeping, and…Proffy?Proffy!"

I didn't hear the end of what he was saying, because I had slipped beneath the surface of the Thin Lake.Not diving this time, but drifting down — because I could barely move.I was falling, slowly but surely — down past the slats, almost all the way to the hoops, and even when I tried to lift my arms and legs, I just couldn't move them enough to push me forward.I was going to fall down through the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd, down to the bottom, and then… what?

As I stared down at the depths below, I felt an arm slipping under mine and wrapping around my body."Easy, there, Proffy.I gotcha."

I huffed and puffed, trying to catch my breath as Mr. Spook pulled us back to the surface."Thank… thank you, Mr. Spook."

"What happened?Something drag you down?"He glared down into the water, as if trying to see a creature he could whack to make things better.

"No, I'm just feeling… awfully tired all of a sudden."A grumbling gurgle came from inside me, and I sheepishly added, "And hungry."

"Proffy, din'cha chow down before we set out?You gotta have energy when you're going off the Legendary Edge!I know it don't taste great, but it keeps you strong!"

"I ate yesterday!" I protested weakly."In the afternoon, like always."

"Yeah, and it's been more'n a day since then, right?You knew we were gonna be out a whole day.So you shoulda known you were gonna miss a meal."He was swimming slowly through the waters of the Thin Lake now, pulling us both along with one arm as he supported me with the other.

"I-I just didn't think of it," I said, trailing off meekly.Now that he'd pointed it out, I knew I should have, and I felt ashamed that I hadn't.

"Well, too late to worry 'bout it now," he said."We gotta find some place to set'cha down for the night.Don't want you slippin' down and gettin' lost, after all."

It was easier said than done.The Beanworld was already out of sight — a tiny speck on the horizon, if it was there at all.The sun was crossing the horizon, seeming no closer than it ever had been, and the light was growing dim.And the Thin Lake stretched out endlessly in every direction — until we finally saw what we were looking for.

At first I thought it was a giant hoop, big enough to pass the slats and break the surface of the Thin Lake, but as we got closer I could tell it was entirely different.It was little more than a huge dome, almost as wide across as Gran'Ma'Pa's canopy, and as Mr. Spook dragged us out of the water to rest on its surface, it was comfortingly solid and unmoving.The ground was much harder and colder than any I'd ever been on in the Beanworld, but at this point I wasn't complaining.

"Good thing we found this," Mr. Spook said."Don't look like there's anything else here as far as the eye can see."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spook," I groaned."I really should have eaten before we left."

"Aw, it's okay, Proffy.You just got too excited about your new idea.It happens a lot to you, you know?And you been getting chow on the regular so long that you musta just forgot how it feels to go without."

"I still should have thought of it." I sat up and looked around.The sun was halfway down already, and, like Mr. Spook had said, there was nothing else to be seen — no other people, no other islands, not even the Beanworld itself.Just the Thin Lake, stretching off in every direction.

"This is a lonely place.What do you think it is?"

"Dunno.And it ain't important right now.What's important is we get some sleep so we can wake up right at sunrise.If you want we can dive down an' take a look at what it's like underneath before we start swimmin' back for the Beanworld."

It wasn't easy to get to sleep, even though I was out of energy.The ground was hard and wet, and the hunger aching inside me gave me the constant urge to run over to the chowdown tub and dive into it, even though it was nowhere in reach.It was a strange, helpless feeling.

But eventually I drifted off.And when I awoke, the sun was peeking over the horizon.Glowing and warm — and just as far away as it was every morning, even back on the Beanworld.

"Heya, Proffy," Mr. Spook said as I sat up."You feelin' any better?"

"Not much," I said, resting my hands on my midsection.Sleep had revitalized me a little, but I was still weak."I desperately need to get back to the Beanworld so I can eat…"

"Yeah, I getcha.Probably gonna be feeling kind of worn out myself by the time we get back there.You gonna be okay?With me swimmin' for two, we probably ain't gonna get home until after midday…"

"I'll just have to hold on," I said, even though something in me was sure I'd have eaten myself up from the inside out by then.But we didn't have any other choice, did we?I started to push myself up, trying to stand on wobbly legs…

And then the island lurched upwards, the water of the Thin Lake cascading down as we rocketed high into the air, far higher than I'd ever been before, higher than anything I'd even seen, even Gran'Ma'Pa.I lost my balance and slid down, only avoiding a long fall when Mr. Spook grabbed my wrist.

"Proffy!What's going on?"He was lying down on the top of the island, trying to pull me up, but the ground beneath us was rocking back and forth erratically, and the spray from the Thin Lake was making it slick and slippery, hard to even hold on to.

"I don't know!The Beanworld never shakes like this!Maybe this isn't really an island after all—!"

"HA HA!HARK AND AVAUNT!WHAT MANNER OF MITES DISTURB MY SLUMBER?DOST THOU DESIRE TO TEST THY METTLE AGAINST MINE?"

The voice rumbled up from below us, louder than anything I'd ever heard in my life.The sheer force of it made me flinch, and I nearly twitched out of Mr. Spook's grip.I felt his hand squeeze around mine, trying not to let me go — and slipping down a little himself.

"Who said that?" Mr. Spook yelled?"What are ya doing to us?"

"I DO NAUGHT TO YOU, LITTLE CREATURES!IT IS YOU WHO HAVE TRESPASSED UNWANTED ONTO MY HEIGHTS!NAME YOURSELVES, OR FACE BISECTION!"

The island under us lurched again, and this time, I couldn't hold on.I was slipping, pulling down Mr. Spook as I went.I knew we were both going to fall off, and in my weakened state I wasn't sure what would happen when I hit the water from this height.

And the same thought must have occurred to Mr. Spook, too.He was slipping, too, but he had just enough traction to give me a mighty yank, swinging me around so instead of falling all the way down, I landed on a protruding level surface off to one side, one I hadn't seen in my panic.I was safe — but I could only watch as Mr. Spook tumbled down and splashed into the water below.

I tried to orient myself.The platform I was lying on was narrower than the island above, which looked like a perfect ball from down here, supported on a tower leading up from the platform.And tucked in at the base of the pillar, on the platform, was something big, and oval, and bulbous, and…

…and as it turned to look at me, I realized it was a giant eye, bigger than I was.

We'd slept on top of some giant creature without knowing it, and now it was awake.And though I couldn't see the whole thing, it didn't look very happy.

("Proffy didn't get a chance to see the whole thing, but I did!It was this really tall thing that looked like some kinda tool or a weapon — the bit we'd been on was the end of the handle, and then there was a crossbar with a couple of big eyes perched on either side, which was where Proffy landed, and then down from there there was just this long edgy part, like a huge slat, wide as Gran'Ma'Pa, sharpened on both sides, risin' up out of the water—")

Mr. Spook!Who's telling this story, you or me?

("Sorry, Proffy.")

It's all right.But to continue…

"HARK!NOW I DO SEE YOU, LITTLE CREATURE!WHAT MANNER OF FLESH, FOWL, OR SPIRIT BE THEE?"

"I, uh… my name is Professor Garbanzo!" I said, trying to work up my nerve."And my friend you just knocked into the water is Mr. Spook.We're Beans, and we didn't know you were alive — didn't even know anything about you, I promise!"

"WHENCE CAMEST THEE, TINY BEANS?WHY VENTUREST THOU INTO THE PATH OF MY BLADE?" ****

 **"** We're from the Beanworld!"I pointed frantically back towards the sunrise."It's a long way in that direction.We didn't mean to sleep on you!I just wanted to find out what happened if we jumped off the Legendary Edge and swam towards the—"

"WHAT HO?THOU SAYST THOU KNOWS NOT OF ME, AND YET YOU WISHED TO JUMP FROM MY HEIGHTS?TRULY THOU DOST INTEND DECEIT!"

I felt the platform under me lurch, and I clutched at the smooth surface of the creature's crossbar, trying desperately not to slip off."What?I didn't say—!"

"YOU STAND ATOP ME, THE LEGENDARY EDGE!NO BLADE CAN MATCH MY SHARPNESS!NO WARRIOR CAN MATCH MY SKILL!"It swiveled its eye to look at me."I WANDER ALL LANDS TO HONE MY SKILLS!I TRAVEL HITHER AND YON TO SEEK OUT THE GREATEST WARRIORS OF ALL THE BIG•BIG•PICTURE AND PROVE MYSELF GREATER THAN THEM!AND I DO NOT SUFFER MYSELF TO BE USED AS A LEAPING POST FOR LIARS!"

"That was a misunderstanding!We came from a different Legendary Edge—"

"A PRETENDER TO MY NAME?FIEND!PERHAPS I SHOULD SEEK OUT THIS OTHER LEGENDARY EDGE AND CHALLENGE IT TO A DUEL!THEN WE WILL TRULY SEE WHO IS WORTHY OF THE NAME!"

I boggled at the idea.This creature fighting the cliff — or perhaps the entire Beanworld?It could be a disaster!

"Oh yeah?" Mr. Spook popped his head back out of the water."Well, I'm Mr. Spook, Hero of the Beanworld, and I say if you're lookin' for a fight, then you're gonna face me!Not Proffy, not the real Legendary Edge — you're goin' through me or you ain't going anywhere at all!"

"HA HA!A HERO, THOU SAYST?HOW GRAND!MUCH AND MORE HAVE I DESIRED TO FIGHT A HERO AGAIN!COME, LITTLE ONE, FACE THE FLOWER OF CHIVALRY, WITH THE LIFE OF THY SQUIRE AT STAKE!"

"I dunno what that means, but if it's your way of sayin' you wanna fight, you're on!"

Mr. Spook took the first punch, slamming a fist into the Legendary Edge — or rather the Other Legendary Edge, since I couldn't bring myself to think of it as replacing our own — and I felt the body of the creature rattle beneath me.It was a solid hit that I'd seen make even the toughest Hoi-Polloi flinch and cry, but the Other Legendary Edge wasn't deterred one bit.

"HA!AND SO YOU TAKE THE FIRST TOUCH — BUT MINE SHALL BE THE LAST!"

The ground suddenly dropped out from under me, and I sprawled out trying to hang onto the sides as the Other Legendary Edge lashed its head down and forward, slamming it into Mr. Spook and knocking him under the water.

"Mr. Spook!" I cried out.

"FIE, LITTLE HERO!" the Other Legendary Edge boomed as it straightened up again."IF THOU ART WORTHY OF THE NAME, SUCH A TRIFLING BLOW SHOULD NOT BE ENOUGH TO DISSUADE THEE!FACE ME AT THY FULL STRENGTH, AND I WILL SHOW YOU THE MIGHT OF MY BLADE!"

"You're askin' for it!"

And then Mr. Spook shot back out of the water, a big thick slat in each hand.They weren't great weapons — not as good as my spears, certainly not as good as his fork would one day be — but with Mr. Spook's strength behind them, they sent vibrations up and down the Other Legendary Edge, shaking it so hard I had to wedge myself in behind its eye to keep from falling.

"OHO, THOU HAST SPIRIT!BUT CAN THY SPIRIT AND THY CRUDE WEAPONS TRULY LAST AGAINST THE MOST LEGENDARY BLADE OF ALL?"

The Other Legendary Edge whipped its whole body around, faster than I would have thought possible, and I found myself scrunching even tighter into my hiding place to avoid being thrown off as it did a complete flip and slammed its blade into Mr. Spook's weapons, knocking him back.But Mr. Spook wasn't deterred, not in the slightest.He bounced off the water of the Thin Lake twice, skipping across the surface, but then got control of himself again and leapt up once more to strike back.

It was a dizzying fight — not least because I kept on getting whirled around and shaken about as the Other Legendary Edge spun and swayed to keep attacking Mr. Spook.But in the moments I had a clear view of the action, I could tell that it wasn't going well.The Other Legendary Edge was barely sustaining any damage from Mr. Spook's strikes — while every hit it landed scuffed and bruised Mr. Spook a little more.And Mr. Spook didn't have good footing, only able to float in the Thin Lake or briefly stand on particularly large slats floating just beneath, so he couldn't put his full force behind the blows.

"Please, uh, mister Legendary Edge!There's no need to fight like this!We apologize for anything we did wrong—!"

"HA!THINK NOT TO DISSUADE ME, TINY SQUIRE!WHILE YOU LEARNED TO PLEAD FOR MERCY, I LIVED THE LIFE OF THE BLADE!ALL THAT MATTERS IS THE BATTLE, AND THIS LITTLE FOE IS WORTHY!UNTIL A VICTOR EMERGES, THERE WILL BE ONLY THE JOY OF BATTLE ETERNAL!"

"Eternal?!"I couldn't last that long, I knew, and neither could Mr. Spook.But what could we do?If fighting wasn't going to work, and talking to it wasn't going to work, what could we do?

I stared down at the Thin Lake, at where Mr. Spook was blocking the Other Legendary Edge's latest attack — and then at the distant sunrise beyond.If we only could…

Yes!I had an idea!I drew in my breath, ready to use the last of my strength — because this plan was all about getting heard.

"Mr. Spook, we can't win this!You don't have any real weapons — we left my spears at home, remember!And if this creature should stumble on your greatest weakness — that getting thrown towards the sun is something you can't defend against — then it's all over!"

"What?"Mr. Spook was pressing back against the strike with crossed slats, but the Other Legendary Edge was cutting through them, slowly but inexorably, and Mr. Spook could barely keep himself afloat, even braced against the slats."I ain't got no—"

"OH HO!A WEAKNESS!CHIVALRY WOULD FAIN SUGGEST I DECLINE THE ADVANTAGE THY SQUIRE HAS UNWITTINGLY SHARED WITH ME — AND YET TO BE THE GREATEST, MOST LEGENDARY EDGE OF ALL, I MUST NOT PASS EVEN THE LEAST ADVANTAGE GRANTED TO ME!CONSIDER THIS YOUR WARNING, TINY BEANS — TO SPEAK NOT WHEN SPEECH ITSELF IS DANGER!"

The Other Legendary Edge swung itself around again, flipping over backwards, the blade rising up to swat Mr. Spook, and this time I didn't wedge myself in, but dove forward, towards Mr. Spook, right in the path of the blade.The flat of it slapped into me and Mr. Spook, and for the first time, I think I knew what it felt like to be the slat in a Slapslat Dance.

It was painful, and knocked the breath out of me, but as we soared up in an arc, I managed to shout out one last thing in the direction of the Other Legendary Edge, now retreating into the distance shockingly fast:

"Oh no!We looooooooost…"

The echoes of the Other Legendary Edge's booming laughter were the only things that followed us.

"Hoo hoo ha!That was some quick thinkin', Proffy!You got us out of there free and clear!"

Mr. Spook was quite happy, but I was less thrilled, mostly because I was hurting from the Other Legendary Edge's strike, and quite dizzied from the sensation of flying through the air.We weren't very high up — certainly not as high as you go when you jump! — but we were going fast, faster than I'd ever imagined anything could go before!We saw the Other Legendary Edge dwindle away to nothing in the distance, and the waves of the Thin Lake skimming by underneath us.And then suddenly something whooshed past just beneath us, something big and bulbous and broad—

"Mr. Spook!That was Gran'Ma'Pa!We just flew past the Beanworld!"

"I saw it Proffy!Here, grab onta me, and I'll try to—"

It was quicker done than said.Mr. Spook dropped one slat, grabbed onto me, tucked us into a ball, and held out the remaining slat in a way that made us start to tumble and arc downwards, until finally we crashed through the Thin Lake, down through the Four Realities, getting all the way to the twinks before we stopped.He dropped the slat as we struggled to right ourselves, and then swam upwards together…

And finally, we pulled ourselves up onto the Proverbial Sandy Beach, exhausted, overwhelmed, but so glad to be home.

"Mr. Spook!Thank goodness you're back!"

One of the Chow Sol'jers ran up to us, frantically waving his arms."It's a sprout-butt!It's dropping!"

We both lifted our weary eyes just in time to see a sprout-butt shooting off of Gran'Ma'Pa, bouncing hard off the ground.Before I even knew what was happening, Mr. Spook had rocketed off towards it, fumbling to catch it.And, as always, he did it — though not until the twelfth bounce, the worst he'd ever done.

It was a wobbly, aching Mr. Spook who led the Chow Sol'jers off the real Legendary Edge this time, and from what I heard later it was one of the roughest chowraids they'd had in a while.But all I could think of as I dragged myself over to the chowdown tub and plopped myself down into the foul-tasting chow, was that we'd made it.Even if I'd nearly starved, even if we'd lost a fight, even if I'd been wrong about predicting sprout-butts, even if nothing had gone as planned, we'd made it.We'd left, and we'd come back okay.

That had to count for something.

* * *

"And that's the story of the time I tried to chase the sun!"

Professor Garbanzo finished the story with a gleeful flourish of her arms, waving at the horizon again."It was a failure, to be sure, but a grand adventure!And even if we didn't find out what we set out to find, we learned a lot!"

"Wow, Proffy!"Beanish was watching her with rapt fascination.The visions of her story had danced in his head as she told it — words giving rise to images, images in motion, images stirring emotions.He was captivated, and filled with a familiar urge.

"That was an amazing story!Now I really want to make a Look•See Show all about it."He could see it in his mind — a central structure of slats and chips to make the Other Legendary Edge, with perhaps modified hoops for eyes and the top island, a tiny Proffy — maybe the size of an action effigy — on top of it, and a tiny Mr. Spook with slats in hand, ready to fight…

He deflated a little."But it wouldn't mean much to anyone else, would it?The ones the others like the most are all about stories they've been part of.Nobody would know what they were looking at — they'd probably leave almost as soon as the show started."

"Aww, Beanish, don't think like that," Mr. Spook said sympathetically, patting him on the back."I'd stick around for a while! I mean, I never see what they're all about, but I'd still be there."

"Yes, and I'm sure I'd be fascinated!" Professor Garbanzo added."Though it certainly would be a shame if no one else understood it."

"Something appreciated by one is not worth it ever."

Beanish startled.He hadn't even noticed Heyoka arriving, so engrossed he'd been in Proffy's story, but there she was, one hand holding on to the Legendary Edge so the rest of her could dangle upwards.

"Heyoka!I don't know what— oh.You really think so?"It was an interesting thought.How would he feel about a Look•See Show where almost everyone left immediately, but Proffy stayed all day?

"Ya know, maybe we could even tell the whole story at the Look•See Show," Mr. Spook mused."If it was good enough to get Beanish excited about it, maybe everyone else would like it, too."

"Maybe!I wouldn't want to steal Beanish's job, though!And I don't know if I'd be good at telling it so everyone would stay interested."

"It is not worth considering," Heyoka opined.

"Hmm…"Professor Garbanzo looked at Heyoka thoughtfully."You know, now that we've got Heyoka able to float like she does, and the Cuties are flying their chipskates better and better every day, I wouldn't be surprised if someday we find them going out to where we saw the Other Legendary Edge — and even beyond!"

"Heyoka has always been sideways."

"True," Professor Garbanzo said, "you've always been more about going up and down.I don't suppose you've ever gone high enough to see if there's an end to the Thin Lake anywhere?"

"Heyoka can tell you for certain."

"That's a shame.Still, I think maybe having the Cuties set out like that someday would be a good thing.Despite everything that went wrong, that trip really did a lot for Mr. Spook and me.We learned a lot about the world around us — and we learned that a clever plan can sometimes turn one of your biggest problems into a great solution for your other problems!"

"Nah, Proffy, that ain't what we learned at all!We learned that there are big threats out there beyond the Beanworld, and we gotta be ready for them!It ain't like that thing was the last one, after all.Remember the poppin' things that killed the Hoi-Polloi and made the Bone Zone?Or when that creep in the red hat threatened us while we wuz eatin'?Or when the Goofy Service Jerks broke my trusty fork?There's all sorts of stuff out there we gotta be ready for."

Beanish looked back and forth between the two of them."You two went on the same adventure, but it sounds like you don't agree on what it meant at all."

"A story never has more than one lesson," Heyoka offered.

She was right — stories always did, Beanish reflected.Of course the same course of events could mean one thing for Proffy, and another thing for Mr. Spook.They were different people, after all!

Could it mean something for him, then?He hadn't experienced it himself, but wasn't a story a kind of experience in itself?Something he could learn from?

"Of course!It's all about the journey!"

Beanish had hopped to his feet without even realizing it!Proffy looked up at him, startled."Beanish?What do you mean?"

"I mean that you two never got where you wanted to go, but that doesn't mean the trip was pointless!"He was suddenly bursting with energy, and started to dash back towards his sketching area, with the others trailing behind him."You learned things, you grew, and even if there weren't any practical gains, you still had an amazing adventure that made great memories!It's the same with me!Even if today's Look•See Show wasn't very popular, I still learned a lot about how to make unusual shapes and make it look like they were floating, and I still had a good time building it!"

And, he reflected privately to himself, it was the same with the Secret Path of Something More.Even if he never reached the end — even if there was no end — he always enjoyed his time with Dreamishness.He'd learned things about himself, and her, and the Big•Big•Picture and what lies beyond.That would always be worth everything to him.

"So I'm gonna do it!I'm gonna try to make a Look•See Show about the Other Legendary Edge," he said, already starting to lever up one of the big slats he'd left lying around."And maybe the other Beans will like it, and maybe they won't, and maybe I'll learn a lot about how to build really big things, and maybe it'll lead to something more…But I can definitely say that no matter what, it'll have been worth it!"

And in the end, it was.

**Author's Note:**

> I first came across the Beanworld when I was browsing through the new arrivals in my friendly local comic shop during my teenage years -- way back in the 1990s. I saw this black-and-white comic with simplistic cartoony characters and scoffed at it. How could this possibly stand up to the amazing full-color realistic works Marvel and DC were putting out? Or even the elaborate artwork and adult situations of my favorite indies, like Elfquest? I set it aside and didn't think about it again.
> 
> More the fool I was.
> 
> I came across the Beanworld for a second time much more recently -- maybe five years back. I was at my local comic shop (a different one, for I've moved a few times since), and saw one of the newly-released hardcover collections. I'd heard a little about the series in passing since then, and thought it was worth another look, especially since my tastes had changed significantly since I was a teenager.
> 
> This time, I was enraptured.
> 
> The surreal but entirely consistent world-building, the charming characters, the sense of exploration, growth, and wonder, the fascinating ritual rhythm of things like the chowraids, the use of epithets and repeated descriptions that echoed the set phrases used by classical poets as memory aids (Mr. Spook's trusty fork is always trusty, the elusive notworm is always elusive, and of course there's the Legendary Edge and the Proverbial Sandy Beach -- shades of Homer's 'rosy-fingered dawn,' if that's not too pretentious)... The craft and design of the comics was amazing, and the world it was showing to me was one I wanted to know more about. I want to explore the Big•Big•Picture, and learn how Mr. Spook got his name, and see what destiny the Cuties have ahead of them!
> 
> The seed idea for this story came to me a couple of years back -- one of those shower thoughts that comes out of nowhere. 'Doesn't the Legendary Edge sound like a way you'd describe a sword, too?' That got me the vague idea of the Beans having an encounter with a strange and mysterious sword -- but it never went anywhere until your Yuletide letter gave me a lot of extra material to mix in with it. That's where I got the idea to make it a story about Mr. Spook and Professor Garbanzo acting as a team, and have Beanish and Dreamishness as part of the framing story, and to make it one of their first looks at how much bigger the Big•Big•Picture is than any of them had realized before.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! There's a paucity of Beanworld fic out there, and hopefully this has contributed to the supply in at least a small way.


End file.
